Humility

Humility is the key to unleashing and supercharging personal and organizational performance improvement. However, not everyone feels comfortable introducing complex topics like cultural humility. I was fortunate to discover Professor Edward Hess’ book “Humility is the New Smart: Rethinking human excellence in the smart machine age.”1 I believe his book is a non-threatening, practical, and inspiring way to introduce humility to your staff. Based on Hess’ book, the article below is an excerpt from our population health lean reference document.

In 1998, Melanie Tervalon and Jann Murray-García published a groundbreaking article1 that challenged the concept of “cultural competency” with the concept of “cultural humility.” Cultural humility is committing to lifelong learning, critical self-reflection, and personal and institutional transformation. Accepting cultural humility means accepting that we can never be fully culturally competent. Cultural humility is the foundation for establishing trust and respectful relationships, and for managing differences and conflict. Cultural humility means